Thesis 29/36: Discipleship

DOCTRINES OF THE CHURCH:
Doctrine 29 / 36: Discipleship

The Great Commission is to preach the gospel and to baptize the converts in all the world. However, it does not stop there. The last part of the Great Commission is to be "teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19). The salvation of a man is only the beginning. This teaching them to observe all things is Discipleship. There are people who get saved, and even baptized, yet they never move into the area of learning to observe all things. Jesus goes into detail on the higher level that is required in a true disciple (Luke 14:25-33).

Discipleship speaks of taking what a person has learned and passing that on to somebody else. It is not always taught in a classroom, and in fact, is probably taught more outside of a classroom. Discipleship is essentially leadership. A person leads somebody else to where he should be. It is not confined to spiritual matters either. Moses had a disciple in Joshua, and when Moses died, Joshua stepped in his place and successfully carried on the movements of the children of Israel. However, the Bible does not speak of Joshua having had a disciple, and in turn, when Joshua dies, the people end up doing whatever they felt was right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25).

Christians are to study the word of God, but it is not enough for a man to gain knowledge for his own sake; it must be passed on. Paul encourages his disciple, Timothy, to follow the example. "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2). Paul did not keep his knowledge to himself, nor was it sufficient that he passed his knowledge on to somebody else. Paul wanted it to be spread from Timothy to other men, who, in turn, would teach it to others as well. Christianity dies when the last person stops discipling somebody else.

Discipleship comes in many shapes and sizes. It does not have to be a formal program, but it has to happen. It does not always have to be done in a one on one manner; Jesus had 12 disciples. Jesus spent the majority of His time with his group of 12 disciples, and even more time with three specifically, Peter, James and John. He knew that the time would come that He would be taken out of the world, and the ministry would be left in their hands. From them, Christianity grew to thousands, who then took it all over the world. Discipleship works in multiplication, whereas evangelism without discipleship grows by addition. The difference between those two is that discipleship requires true investment in the disciplee's life by the leader.

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ."